Ravensburger debuted Disney Lorcana just about a year ago. The trading card game featuring Disney animated films has expanded hugely since then. Shimmering Skies is the game’s fifth release, bringing up the total number of available cards to over 1,000. It’s so many cards to choose from to build your 60-card deck—so many that the only solution is to craft more than one deck. Based on the cards we’ve seen from the next set, your choices are going to get harder. Ravensburger sent us Shimmering Skies Starter Decks, which combine Emerald & Steel and Amethyst & Ruby inks. This set has joyful vibes since the realm of Lorcana is celebrating the defeat of Ursula. Here are some highlights from the Shimmering Skies Starter Decks.
Shimmering Skies Emerald & Steel Starter Deck
The Shimmering Skies Emerald & Steel Starter Deck is all about dealing damage and then using your opponent’s pain to your benefit. It’s balanced and opened my eyes to the potential of playing this ink combination across the various sets.
Combinations of cards win the day more than any single card. However, one of my favorite cards from this deck is the Robin Hood Timely Contestant. The card costs nine ink and is uninkable, but you can bring down that cost by deducting damage from opposing characters. It’s not as hard as you might think to get him into play. He quests for four lore. On top of that, this card has the Ward ability so other characters have to challenge him and he has six willpower and strength. I want to build a Robin Hood-themed deck just because of this card.
I also quite like the Tug-of-War action card. It either deals one damage to each opposing character without Evasive or three damage to each opposing character with Evasive. That can pack quite a punch. You can’t beat Steel cards for inflicting challenge-less damage.
Shimmering Skies Amethyst & Ruby Starter Deck
I’ve refined my Lorcana strategy over the various releases but at its core, that strategy is still the same as when I began playing: number go up. I want to quest and quest often. The more lore I can obtain in a single turn, the happier I am. The Shimmering Skies Amethyst & Ruby deck beautifully enabled this dream with its combination of characters with two or more lore and characters with the Evasive ability. Evasive characters make me feel invincible. That’s an incorrect feeling as there are always counters, but while I have those Evasive cards out unopposed, it’s the best. The Emerald & Steel Starter Deck did have foils to keep the Amethyst & Ruby combination from being undefeatable, but if I got lucky with my cards early in the game, I could make large leaps in lore.
This deck prominently features Wreck-It Ralph characters, including multiple versions of Taffyta Muttonfudge. Some lovely new Frozen characters join the fray as well. Like the Robin Hood card I mentioned above, this deck has a beast of an uninkable Olaf card. It costs nine ink, but you can reduce that cost depending on how many exerted characters your opponents have in play. Then he quests for three lore. This could be a prize of a card in a multiplayer match. I also adore Bruni Fire Salamander. He has Evasive, quests for two lore, and allows the player to draw a card when he’s banished.
Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies will arrive at local game stores, Disney Stores, and Disney Parks on August 9, 2024. Shimmering Skies will then hit mass market retailers and DisneyStore.com on August 23, 2024.